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Giant Eagle will close its Valu King discount grocery store in Reynoldsburg by early September, and as of yesterday, the grocer hadn’t said why.

Area residents had hoped that the 27,000-square-foot store, which carries only 3,000 grocery items on warehouselike shelves, would lead a renaissance in their neighborhood.

“Is the city disappointed they’re going? Yes,” said Reynoldsburg Auditor Richard Harris. “It’s a shame it didn’t work out because I think it would have been good for the neighborhood.”

At the time of its May 2010 opening, the Reynoldsburg Valu King, near Livingston Avenue and Brice Road, was expected to create 45 full- and part-time jobs.

“The majority of team members will be offered comparable positions at area Giant Eagle locations,” spokesman Dan Donovan said in a statement, which did not elaborate on the decision.

The Reynoldsburg Valu King store, and one in nearby Pataskala, were opened in 2010 as “concepts.” That means the stores were experiments, not business commitments to neighborhoods or cities.

“It may have been a worthwhile test for them to open several of these in different markets where they could get affordable sites, even if they all didn’t work out in the long run,” said Mark Hamstra, retail and financial editor at the trade publication Supermarket News.

The Reynoldsburg Valu King went into space vacated years earlier by grocer Big Bear, Harris said. The Pataskala store was closed within weeks of its opening, he said.

“I’m guessing they can walk away without having too much of a financial penalty,” said independent grocery analyst David J. Livingston.

Giant Eagle probably learned a lot from its central Ohio stores, and their presence might even have stalled the opening of a competitor at those locations, Hamstra said.

“It might not look like it makes sense to open a store and close it down two years later, but in the big picture, it may make sense for them,” he said.

Like competitors Aldi and Save-A-Lot, Valu King is all about price.

“The current (economic) climate is conducive to this kind of format,” Jeff Galmarini, vice president of Valu King, said when the Reynoldsburg store opened.

“It’s valuable for people who not only want to save money but want to shop smarter,” Galmarini said at the time.

Discount grocers, as a whole, are doing well because the economy still is soft and many consumers are afraid to spend, Hamstra said.

However, the discount grocery business also is highly competitive, Livingston said, ticking off more competitors, such as Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Target and Marc’s.

“It’s difficult for anybody to come in with a low-price format if somebody else has already got one,” Livingston said.

There’s an Aldi store not far from the Brice-Livingston neighborhood, Harris said.